Self and andrew j



(No Model.)

E. G. SGHLEICHBR. PIANO SOUNDING- BOARD.

N0.`522,124. Patented June 26, 1894.

1HE NATvoNAL LxrHoeRAm-ma COMPANY.

wAsHmGvoN. D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ED WARD G. SCHLEICI'IER, OF STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO HIM- SELF AND ANDREV J. SCI-ILEICHER, OF SAME PLACE, AND GEORGE SCHLEICHER AND JOHN C. SCHLEICHER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

PIANO SOUNDlNG-BOARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 522,124, dated June 26, 1 894.

Application filed April l2, 1894. Serial No. 507,311. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD G. SCHLEICHER, a citizen ofthe United States, residing at Stamford, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented new and useful Improvements in Piano Sounding-Boards, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to certain improvements in piano sounding boards as pointed 1o out in the following speciiicationand claim and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a plan or top view of a sounding board constructed according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal horizontal section in the plane :c .fc Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a partial longitudinal section of one of the top ribs in the plane y y Fig. l, on alarger scale than the previous gures. zo It is a Well known fact that piano sounding boards of the old and well known construction are provided with ribs which are usually glued to the under or back side of the board and run in a direction crosswise to the grain of the wood from which the body of the board is made. Sounding boards of this construction are liable to warp by the iniiuence of atmospheric changes and in consen quence thereof said boards are subjected to 3o constant changes in shape whereby the tone of the instrument is aected to a greater or less extent. Various attempts have been made to overcome this difficulty, for instance sounding,r boards have been provided with 3 5 ribs secured to both surfaces and placed right opposite to each other as shown for instance in the patent to John R. Lomas, No. 320,264, dated June 16, 1385, and a sounding board thus constructed is certainly less liable to warp than 4o a sounding board provided with ribs on one surface only. But if the ribs are placed opposite to each other as shown in the Lomas patent, and the bridges for the strings are secured to the upper or front ribs, the vibrations of the strings are transmitted by the bridge to the upper or front ribs which rest upon portions of the sounding board supported by the lower or back ribs and the body of the sounding board remains almost 5o inactive.

After a long series of careful experiments I have succeeded in constructing a sounding board which is not liable to undergo perceptible changes by contact with the atmosphere and which at the same time does not diminish the volume of the tone when compared with a sounding board having ribs on one face only.

In the drawings the letterA designates the sounding board which is provided with ribs B on its under or back surface and with ribs 6o C on its upper or front surface. D, E, are the bridges which support the strings and transmit their vibrations to the sounding board. These bridges are supported by and secured to the top or front ribs C. These o5 ribs are fastened to the sounding board at places intermediate between the places Where the bottom or back ribs B are fastened, and I have found that the vibrations of the strings impart to my sounding board an undulating 7o motion and thereby the volume of the tone produced is materially increased.

The effect of the vibrations of the stringsV on the sounding board can be increased by reducing the bulk of those portions of the ribs C which extend from the bridge D to the edge of the sounding board. This reduction is effected by making the ends 10 of the ribs tapering and by forming cavities 11 in the bodies of the ribs close to the bridge as shown 8o in Fig. 3.

I do not claim broadly as my invention a sounding board provided with ribs on both faces.

WVhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A sounding board provided with bottom or back ribs B and with top or front ribs C, the top ribs being secured to the sounding board at places intermediate between the places j where the bottom or back ribs are secured substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EDWARD G. SCHLEICHER. 

